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White House Crashers to Appear on ‘Today’

Samantha Appleton/The White HousePresident Obama greeted Michaele Salahi as her husband Tareq Salahi, right, looked on during the state dinner at the White House last week.

The couple who caused a national debate about lax security at the White House when they crashed a state dinner last week will break their silence in an interview Tuesday morning with Matt Lauer on NBC’s “Today” show.

The couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, will appear by satellite from Washington in the 7 a.m. hour of the show. An NBC executive emphasized that the program had agreed to no fee or special considerations to win the interview, which has been intensely pursued by many television news organizations.

The Salahis had previously agreed to an interview this week with Larry King of CNN but then reneged, saying they were going to demand payment for any interviews.

The NBC executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the background details of the agreement for the interview were confidential, confirmed that a representative of the couple had earlier demanded payment but that NBC had refused. The network’s news division has policies that forbid payment for interviews.

But the Salahis have since changed lawyers, the NBC executive said, adding, “Apparently they have been advised that it will be better for them simply to get their story out straight.”

Questions have been raised about how the Salahis were able to pass through security at the White House to attend the event even though they were not invited. Mrs. Salahi has been followed around by a camera crew as she has been auditioning for a role in a planned reality show for the Bravo cable channel, “The Real Housewives of D.C.”

In recent days, Congress has said it would investigate how the security breach occurred and would call the Salahis to testify. In addition, they may face criminal charges.

Megan B. Kopf, an NBC spokeswoman, said the live interview by Mr. Lauer would have no special format and will be “a news interview, just like any other interview.”

“… to win the interview.” Why is NBC giving these two a national platform? Shame on the Salahis and on NBC. The Salahis should be prosecuted for criminal trespassing, not rewarded for their behavior by NBC.

I only hope that the Secret Service finds cause to arrest these people to send to those who desire to profit from both stupid and illegal activity. Also, NBC should be ashamed for giving these people a forum to tell their lies.

Shame on “Today.” What can they say? Who cares? They were completely out of line and perhaps entered the White House illegally. If so, they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We should not parade these would be celebrities in front of the nation. The Today Show is only giving them what they wanted.

The only positive outcome of this stunt is that the Secret Service will surely tighten security at the White House. There is no further positive value in this, its empty, frightening, a waste of time and energy. Reality TV balloon boy people should stay away from a President and his family who for obvious reasons are even more under scrutiny than former First Families.

Why does the media continue to give these narcissistic attention seekers a forum for their sickness? Why not let them slink into obscurity…?

In the past these people would have been shamed for their behavior but now publishers and media outlets engage with them to the agony of the masses. How can this story possibly be worth attention on them?

If this security breach is so interesting, why not interview the Secret Service spokespeople so the public can actually learn something (informational, I mean).